Millions of people moved during the Industrial Revolution. Some simply moved from a village to a town in the hope of finding work whilst others moved from one country to another in search of a better way of life. Some had no choice, transportation was a punishment for some crimes.
The main reason for migrating during the 19th century was to find work. On one hand this involved migration from the countryside to the growing industrial cities, on the other it involved movement from one country, in this case Britain, to another. Poor working conditions, housing and sanitation led to many people opting to emigrate. The British at the time controlled a massive empire including America, Canada, South Africa and Australia and people soon started to move to these countries in search of a new life.
These people would save money and seek assistance from others to pay for the journey, by boat, to these new lands. Some of the reasons for this desire to move are highlighted in this letter written in 1837:
Transportation“we take the liberty of writing to you again upon the subject of emigration to America for we are quite tired of this country… For the thought of being ushered into the workhouse with our wives and children and the miseries of starvation and poverty make us quite tired of our native land. For we know that we cannot be worse off than we already are.”
Other emigrants had a little less choice in the matter, they were ‘transported’. Transportation was a punishment. Britain had for a long time sent convicts to her colonies, a practice that had appeared to be in turmoil after the Americans won their independence (The British used the American Colonies as a place to send criminals). The discovery of Australia though led to transportation being reintroduced and the first convicts arrived in Australia on 26th January 1788. By 1868, when transportation ended, over 150,000 criminals had been sent to work in Australia. (Transportation was not only used for the most serious crimes, for example one lady was sent to Australia for 14 years for the crime of receiving 21 bottles of wine which she knew to be stolen).
Migration was not just people moving out of the country, it also involved a lot of people moving into Britain. In the 1840’s Ireland suffered a terrible famine. Faced with a massive cost of feeding the starving population many local landowners paid for labourers to emigrate (it was cheaper than paying them poor relief or housing them in a workhouse for a long period of time). About a million of these labourers migrated to Britain, many others moved to North America.
Promoting ColoniesThe colonies themselves needed a steady stream of new migrants. They would bring new skills, additional labour and expand the market for goods. Without new faces, colonies could struggle. The colonies themselves often asked people to migrate. The advert below shows that they even helped to pay for some people to move.
Many of the early migrants were men. Some were convicts who had been transported. Others wanted religious freedom. Lots wanted a new opportunity. The work in the early stages of any colony was manual and difficult, which led to the pattern of male dominance in the population. This led to some problems. The men still wanted to have relationships. The colony needed children for it’s future. Therefore migration to the colonies was promoted for women at times. It was also promoted for people with specialist skills: migration of this kind still happens today.
Industrialisation led to many goods being mass produced, quite cheaply. This meant that there was a new opportunity to export. Colonies and far off lands were easier to reach due to the invention of steam propelled ships. Merchants and Industrialists could open up offices in far off lands and profit from the emerging markets there. This led to migration of some workers. These migrants needed new homes, roads, services. This led to additional migration.
Some of the colonies and lands that had been settled by the Europeans had large areas of unexplored land. These offered people an opportunity to exploit the land. That could be through farming, fishing, mining or sourcing valuable minerals and gems. Things such as the Gold Rush in America led to people migrating.
Links: British History – Industrial Revolution – Women and Children in the Industrial Revolution
Mass migration refers to the migration of large groups of people from one geographical area to another. Mass migration is distinguished from individual or small-scale migration; and also from seasonal migration, which may occur on a regular basis.
A specific mass migration that is seen as especially influential to the course of history may be referred to as a 'great migration'. For example, great migrations include the Indo-European migrations to Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia during the Bronze Age, the Bantu migrations across sub-Saharan Africa, Barbarian invasions during the Roman Empire, the Great Migration from England of the 1630s, the California Gold Rush from 1848–1850, the Great Migration of African Americans from the rural American South to the industrial north during 1920–1950, and The Great Oromo Migrations of Oromo tribes during the 15th and 16th centuries in the Horn of Africa. UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were displaced during the partition of India, the largest mass migration in human history.[1][2]
The largest documented voluntary emigration in history was the Italian diaspora, which migrated from Italy between 1880 and 1915, with 13 million people leaving the country.[3][4]
Forced migration
Mass migrations may be forced migrations, such as the Atlantic slave trade. Mass migrations can occur due to religious persecution, such as the biblical Exodus and the migration through the upper Himalayan route from the east by Purohits of Aryan and non-Aryan descent. Similarly, mass migrations may take place in the form of deportation, such as deportations in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, deportations to Gulag camps in the Soviet Union, and coolie labour in Southeast Asia and the Caribbean.
Age of Mass Migration
Historians often identify an "age of mass migration" occurring from c. 1850 to 1914 (sometimes 1940), in which long-distance migration occurred at an unprecedented and exceptionally high rate.[5]
There were three factors that led to the 'age of mass migration'. First, the cost of migration decreased dramatically. Second, the benefits of migration rose (the return on migration was higher in the United States than in other countries). Third, open border regimes encouraged migration. The 'age of mass migration' usually refers to the voluntary transatlantic migration of European peasants and laborers to the Americas.
Immigration from Europe accounted for about 40% of the total United States population growth in the late 19th century. It has been argued that the term should include other mass migrations that occurred in the same period since similarly, large numbers of people migrated long distances within the continent of Asia, most notably during the Pakistan Movement and the subsequent partition of India in 1947.[6][2]
During open border regimes, immigrants were attracted by the falling costs of migration and higher wages in the United States. Depending on the relative wage premium in the U.S. for high and low-cost workers, as well as the relative cost of migration, the selection of migrants, varied over time and sending country. In the U.S. in the late 20th century, the number of migrants approximately equaled the number of native-born in the labor market.[clarify][7]
The partition of India caused the movement of 18 million people. This caused both religious and civil tensions between Hindus and Muslims.[8] This resulted in the highest casualty rate for one migration according to the Guinness Book of World Records 2014. One million people were killed and 12 million became homeless.[9]
- Human migration
- Great Migration (disambiguation)
- Gold rush
- Silver rush
- Transatlantic migrations
- Urbanization in China
- ^ "Rupture in South Asia" (PDF). UNHCR. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
- ^ a b Bates, Dr Crispin (March 3, 2011). "The Hidden Story of Partition and its Legacies". BBC. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
- ^ Ben-Ghiat, Ruth; Hom, Stephanie Malia (2016). Italian Mobilities. Routledge. pp. Introduction. ISBN 9781138778146.
- ^ Scotto, Angelo (August 24, 2017). "From Emigration to Asylum Destination, Italy Navigates Shifting Migration Tides". Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved May 20, 2021. Beginning with Italy's unification, emigration trends can be divided into three main periods. In the first period, from the 1860s to the end of the century, nearly 7 million migrants left Italy, primarily for other European countries. Then, from 1900 to 1928, 12 million Italians migrated, mostly toward non-European countries such as the United States, although after World War I emigration within Europe rose again. During the third period, from 1946 to 1965, more than 5 million Italians emigrated, mainly to neighboring countries such as Germany and Belgium.
- ^ Eriksson, Katherine; Ward, Zachary (September 6, 2020). "Immigrants and Cities during the Age of Mass Migration". Regional Science and Urban Economics. 94: 103593. doi:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103593. ISSN 0166-0462. S2CID 225241854.
- ^ "Rupture in South Asia" (PDF). UNHCR. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
- ^ McKeown, Adam. "Global migrations 1846-1940". Journal of Global History. 15 (2): 155–189.
- ^ "Separation: India and Pakistan". Beyond Books - Culture and Geography. Archived from the original on August 9, 2007. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
- ^ Glenday, Craig (2013). Guinness Book Of World Records 2014. ISBN 9781908843159.
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